A History of

Cohocton

by

Kera Sauerbier Sprague

For history's sake we must say that Cohocton was established in 1805,
but in reading the history of Steuben County, I find that pioneers traveled
through here before this and, of course, there were the Indians who had
settlements along the Conhocton River.

In 1794 Charles Williamson sent Joseph Biven to build a tavern and start
a settlement at the "Twenty- Two-Mile Tree," on the Conhocton River. This
was known to the early settlers as "Biven's Corners," and kept this name
until a post office was started in 1825 and then it was changed to North
Cohocton.

The settlement of the township was slow at first for there were many
dangers and hardships. From this history written about Cohocton I read
that there were many bears, bobcats, panthers, lynxes, wolves and rattlesnakes.
Some stories have been told about the settlers of this county and their
fights with some of these animals. Here is one of these stories:

"There were many rattlesnakes and to say that there were thousands of
them in the Conhocton valley among the pines, would be speaking modestly.
An old settler of this country was once journeying through the woods,
and when night came, found himself in a district infested by rattlesnakes,
numbers of which were twisting their tails in the bushes in great indignation.
Fearful that if he lay on the ground he might wake up in the morning with
his pockets full of snakes (for they are extremely free to snug up to
sleepers on chilly nights, to enjoy the warmth of the human body), in
which case, it would be a delicate thing to pull them out, he placed a
pole across two crotched stakes, and slept on the pole. His slumbers were
sound and refreshing. In the morning he found himself on his roost with
no snakes in his pockets, and observed, moreover, that during his sleep,
he had unconsciously turned over from his right side to his left."

Wolves, bears and panthers killed many of the settlers' animals but most
of the time they could be driven off by the screams and frantic gestures
of the house wife. Another story goes:

"Wolves seldom or never were provoked to resistance. The settler walking
through the woods at dusk, was sometimes intercepted by a gang of these
bush-pirates, whom hunger and the darkness emboldened to snarl and snap
their teeth at his very heels; but a stone or a chunk of wood hurled at
their heads was enough to make them bristle up and stand on the defensive.
We hear of a bouncing damsel who attacked half a dozen of them with a
whip, just as they had seized a pig, and put them to flight, too late,
however, to save the life of the unhappy porker.

There were other troubles for the settlers of Cohocton "In 1812, the
public mind was considerable agitated by the events of the war then in
progress; and the inhabitants of this particular region had an additional
element of disturbance in their very midst, for the Indians were still
in the valley and some attempts were made to incite them to deeds of violence
against the settlers. However, the storm of war passed without disaster
to local interests, and the Indians were restrained by the determined
attitude of the settlers. Soon after 1815 the last remnant of them withdrew
from the valley and went to the state reservations."

The Conhocton valley was one of the best hunting grounds of the Indians,
but when the forests were cut down, this caused the streams to dry up
and most of the animals moved to other places or were killed by hunters.
For many years there were no deer in Cohocton or this part of the state.

In the early days, many rafts of lumber and grain were sent down the
Conhocton river from Atlanta and Cohocton.

Richard Hooker was the first settler in Cohocton. He built a log house
on the road between Cohocton and North Cohocton in about 1791.

The first house that was built between Liberty (now Cohocton) and Avoca
was built by Jonas Cleland in 1805. Other early settlers were Frederick
Blood, Harvey Johnson, Alonzo Parks, James Woodard, Alvin Talbot, Albertus
Larrowe, the Deusenberys, Job Briggs, Joseph Chamberlin, Joseph Shattuck
and Deacon Horace Fowler.

Fowler had come to Cohocton from Guilford, Connecticut, in 1806. He moved
into the Conhocton wilderness and built a log house on the spot where
the municipal building now stands.

Abram Lent was the settler of Lent Hill. Charles Tripp settled on the
four corners west of Cohocton and kept a hotel. This is how Trippnock
got its name. Potter Hill is named for its first settler, Gideon Potter
and John Brown gave Brown Hill its name.

The first school taught in town was taught by Sophia Trumbull in 1810
in a log dwelling built by Jonas Cleland and the second school was the
one taught by Duty Waite in 1814 in the north end of the town.

These first schools were only log cabins, with desks nailed to the three
walls. The students sat on crude benches and the heat came from a fireplace.

These were gradually replaced with frame structures, many of these are
still standing today.

In 1820 the first frame school was built in front of the Maple View Cemetery.
It is recorded that in 1830, it was voted that the district raise $2.00
to be spent on repairs to the school house. The wood to heat the school
was let out on bid for 81 cents a cord. By l836 they were allowing $5.00
for repairs.

In 1838 a sum of $20.00 was raised through the State and town to purchase
books for a library.

The old Union School was built in 1869 and stood where the park is today.
This was a two story building with three rooms and a study hall down stairs
and two rooms up. The teachers each taught three grades in one room and
another teacher and the school principal taught the high school grades.
Mary Larkin taught in this building and her wages were twenty five cents
a week. It was from this Union School that the first diplomas were issued
in 1884.

A brick school house was built on the same spot after the Union school
had burned in 1889. Most of the folks of Cohocton remember the brick school.
But with the growth, it did not prove adequate and in October, 1934, the
new school was completed.

There have been many other things in Cohocton's history which should
be remembered and a few of these are: the flood in 1936 and another in
1972; the fire of about the year, 1963, which burned the Naas warehouse
and the one a few years ago that burned the Bishop and Babbin potato storage
in Atlanta. There is much that goes into making the history of our town;
its history is being made every day.